[EBB Sightings] Barrow's Goldeneye at Lake Merritt

There were 3 or 4 male and 3 or 4 female Barrow's Goldeneye at Lake Merritt 
Saturday around 1pm, along with a similar number of Common Goldeneye, at the 
inlet/outlet that runs under E 12th Ave at Lakeshore, at the S end of the 
Lake.  Pix at picasaweb.google.com/alpix123/WaterBirdsOfLakeMerritt#, 
arranged alphabetically under Goldeneye, Barrow's.
I hope that what follows isn't off topic -- I'm quite new to the forum. 
Lake Merritt connects to the Bay via the channel that runs under E 12th. 
When the tide comes up in the Bay, water flows into the Lake and the water 
level in the Lake rises; and visa versa.  The question came to me yesterday 
whether the direction of the current in the channel and/or the water level 
in the Lake correlate with the presence of the Barrow's Goldeneye right 
there at the mouth of the channel.  If so, sightings there would be more 
predictable.  For the record, when I was there, there was a moderate 
outgoing current and the gravel bar that extends into the Lake from the west 
side of the channel was just an inch or two under water.  It was about three 
hours prior to an unusually low tide (using tide data for the Golden Gate 
Bridge: http://wolfweb.unr.edu/homepage/edc/tides/2009/sfgg_fr09.html). 
Conditions with the closest match occur at 1:40pm today (Sunday), 2:20pm on 
Monday, 3pm Tuesday, 11:50am PST on Sat 3/7, and 1:30pm PDT on Sun 3/8.  I 
intend to track it further.  Would welcome sightings data for that site from 
others.

       -- Al Chase